Nuclear morphometry as an important prognostic factor in stage I renal cell carcinoma

Although 60% of Stage I renal carcinoma patients die from tumor within 5 years postoperatively, a considerable percentage survive that period. Nuclear grading can help to predict the outcome, but many of the patients are Grade 2, and the prognosis of this subclass is uncertain. Therefore, nuclear morphometry was carried out in 41 patients with Stage I renal cell carcinoma. Of these, 24 died within 5 years and 17 have survived that period. Using a mean nuclear area of 32 micron 2 as the decision threshold, none of the 24 short-term survivors are below that threshold and three of the long-term survivors exceed that value (18% false-positives) (99% confidence limit). Separate analysis with sets for learning and testing and Grade 2 patients gave similar results. The results show the essential prognostic value of morphometry in this set of patients with Stage I renal cell carcinoma.